Higher Landau Level Analogues in Twisted TMDs

A zero-field fractional Chern insulator (FCI) was recently realized for the first time in twisted MoTe2 by partially filling a flat topological band which resembles the lowest Landau level. Calculations have suggested that twisted transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) systems can host a stack of additional flat topological bands, with quantum geometry resembling that of higher Landau levels, opening the door to non-Abelian FCIs. We use the recently introduced "adiabatic approximation," which maps the continuum model for twisted TMDs to a modified Landau level problem, to explain the origin of these bands.